Use Quick Wins to Break In a New Habit

Use Quick Wins to Break In a New Habit

Habits are the best indicators of future wellness, success, and happiness. More definitively than circumstances, habits tell us how far we can go, what we can have and how happy we can be in our lives.

If you have good eating habits, you’ll be healthy. If you have good mental habits, you’ll believe in yourself. If you have good behavioral habits, you’ll be motivated to take proper action whenever you recognize the benefits in doing so.

To ourselves at least, most would admit that what keeps us from realizing our grandest dreams and desires is the inability to transform our habits into ones that can hold the space and carry the weight of such ambitions and aims.

What would it mean if we could get over this hump? If we could figure out how to make new habits stick?

Imagine having the conviction to say with confidence that you’ve decided to lose 50 pounds, or that you’re eliminating all junk food from your diet. Imagine having the confidence to act on your business idea, or to start writing that book you’ve always talked about.

If you could make those declarations with a sense of certainty, knowing that you’d see it through, how wonderful would that feel?

If you’re serious about proactively designing the life of your dreams, it does take a genuine commitment to personal growth and development. That said, there are tools and tactics available to get started on the right track now. These are simple things to do that provide enough momentum to carry you through some of the initial resistance we all face when we look to make changes in our lives.

One such tactic is the Quick Win.

A quick win is a task that you complete, or change that you implement without much analysis, effort or motivation.

In the business world companies often use this tactic to initiate major change directives. It’s meant to foster motivation and garner support for the overall goal through a collection of small, quick victories – evidence the plan is both feasible and beneficial.

We can use this same quick win tactic to initiate major changes in our personal lives.

The approach is simple. A quick win can be a task that’s fast and easy, or it can be determined by some other measurement of success. For example, let’s suppose you’re working on a new habit – an hour of exercise, daily. You could go with option one and start the day with 50 jumping jacks, for a quick win. You could also go with option two and give yourself a quick win at the 15-minute mark of your 60-minute workout – a small acknowledgment of your steady commitment and daily efforts.

These mini victories may seem unnecessary or inconsequential on the surface, but they serve a few important functions.

Quick wins move you past initial resistance. By design, quick wins make it easy to say yes, even when your motivation is lacking. Getting started is the most challenging part of any effort. That difficulty is largely caused by the weight of the task. Making the initial task simple and easy makes getting started less painful.

Quick wins provide evidence and credibility. Particularly in the beginning, taking on a new habit can seem overwhelming. You may doubt your ability to make this sort of change in your life. Quick wins serve as evidence that you can.

Quick wins provide motivation. Success is the best encourager. When we rack up wins, it empowers us. It makes us want to try even harder and grab more wins. It’s the perfect transition into, and preparation for the more challenging tasks ahead.

If you’re looking for an easy way to establish a new habit, consider adding quick wins to your strategy. They are easy to put into action and provide plenty of motivation and proof that your efforts will be rewarded.